Firefighters work on putting in containment lines to help control a wildfire near the township of Bell, Australia, Monday, Oct. 21, 2013. Authorities warned that high temperatures and winds were likely to maintain heightened fire danger for days. (AP Photo/AAP Image, Dan Himbrechts)

SYDNEY — Australia’s most populous state declared a wildfire emergency as temperatures are predicted to rise and winds strengthen, fanning flames across New South Wales that have destroyed more than 200 properties.

State Premier Barry O’Farrell signed the order late Sunday after consulting with the police minister, and appointed the Rural Fire Service commissioner to control and coordinate the emergency declaration.

“This is not an action taken lightly,” O’Farrell said in a statement. “But it’s important the Rural Fire Service and other emergency services have the powers and the resources they need to combat this threat.”

Firefighters battling 56 blazes, including 12 that are uncontained, are bracing for renewed wild weather across the state. Australia’s bushfire season has started early after the warmest September on record, and the intensified warnings reflect receding chances of rain to douse flames engulfing swathes of the Blue Mountains region about 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Sydney.

Conditions will be at their worst on Oct. 23 and two of the three main fires in the Blue Mountains have the potential to merge, RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told reporters today.

A haze from the fires again shrouded Sydney’s skyline Monday, and a smell of smoke was in the air.

The government said the declaration will give emergency services personnel the power to direct the public to evacuate an area; order power and gas supplies to be shut off; and shore up or pull down buildings.

A hospital in the Blue Mountains town of Springwood was evacuated two days ago, with 24 patients transferred to the city.

More than 2,000 firefighters, including about 200 from interstate, are battling the blazes and conducted backburning operations over the weekend, taking advantage of a lull in the weather.

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Police charged two girls ages 12 and 13 with lighting a fire in Sydney’s west on Oct. 18. Firefighters were able to extinguish the small blaze. The girls will appear in a Children’s Court on Dec. 4, police said in a statement.

A 63-year-old man died protecting his home from a fire at Lake Munmorah on the NSW Central Coast, about 110 kilometers north of Sydney on Oct. 17, NSW police said in a statement.

The fires have destroyed 208 properties and damaged 122 others, the fire service said.

Wildfires are a regular feature of Australia’s warmer months. In February 2009, bushfires across Victoria state killed 173 people and destroyed 150 homes in the worst blazes in Australian history.